PICKLE AND CHEESE SANDWICHES AT CRESCENT BEACH

On Sunday, my husband, Clif, and I drove to Portland so that we could take our daughter Dee to the bus station for her return trip to New York City. Because the day was relatively warm—almost fifty degrees, albeit somewhat overcast—we decide to head to Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth after we dropped Dee off. We packed a thermos of tea as well as pickle and cheese sandwiches on homemade bread for a nice little picnic in the car. Our dog, Liam, loves the beach, and we naturally brought him along.

Somehow, Sunday was the kind of gray day at the ocean that is especially beautiful, where there is a slight misty fog in the background but everything in the foreground is sharply defined. We parked the car at Kettle Cove in a spot where we could watch the ocean as we ate, saving bits of sandwich for Liam.

The water was choppy, and gray clouds met the gray sea. Not far from shore, seagulls perched on a small rock island. Farther out was another island with an outline of “pointed firs.” The tide was high, making the beach small, and near the shore, two divers surfaced near a red flag with a white diagonal slash.

The beach was not crowded, but it was not empty, either. Clif, Liam, and I walked the length of the beach, a mile out and a mile back. We went over rocks and sand and seaweed and rivulets flowing out to the sea. I found a piece of beach glass. The weather was warm enough so that we could tuck our gloves into our pockets.

When we got back to the car, Liam settled in the back. Clif and I had another cup of tea from the thermos, and we contentedly watched the ocean as we drank.